Boat paddle



Oct. 27, 1964 R. B. BRENNEN, JR

BOAT PADDLE Filed May 23, 1963 KAM/ZY# Aorneys United States Patent O 3,153,797 BOAT PADDLE Ralph B. Brennen, Jr., 1305 Daria St., Birmingham 9, Ala. Fiied May 23, 1963, Ser. No. 282,678 Claims. (Cl. 9-24) This invention relates to a boat paddle. More particularly this invention relates to a boat paddle in which the blade of the paddle is resiliently connected to the handle. With a paddle thus constructed a portion of the energy applied to move the paddle 4through a stroke is stored and, at the end of the stroke by feathering the paddle, the stored energy may be applied to hold the boat on a generally straight course.

If a boat, canoe or the like is paddled from one side in the usual manner with an ordinary paddle, unless the paddle is feathered and an extra amount of force is applied to the feathered paddle, the boat will turn to the off side. Therefore, in paddling a boat it is necessary to paddle from each side of the boat or else to paddle in such a manner as to give a corrective lateral thrust to the boat. Any one of several maneuvers well known in the art will provide the lateral thrust required to correct the direction of the boat; however the execution of these maneuvers is quite difficult, requiring considerable skill and effort on the part of the paddler in order to be eective.

A primary object of my invention is to provide a paddle that will overcome the above diiiculty by supplying the lateral thrust needed to correct the deviation in the forward direction of the boat, with only a simple twist of the Wrist on the part of the paddler, as distinguished from feathering the blade of an ordinary paddle and then pushing the blade laterally of the boat.

Another object of my invention is to provide a paddle having a iiexible sh-tail like action which may be used in sculling a boat, providing smooth power strokes.

A further object of my invention is to provide a paddle of the character designated which is economical to manufacture and durable in use.

A device embodying features of my invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this application, in which:

FIG. l is an elevational View of the paddle showing the users arm in dotted lines;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the paddle showing the users arm in dotted lines;

FIG. 3 is a fragmental view showing the blade in flexed position;

FIG. 4 is a fragmental view showing the resilient connecting member with the metal reinforcing associated therewith shown in dotted lines;

FIG. 5 is a fragmental sectional view taken generally along lines 5 5 of FIG. 4; and,

FIG. 6 is a fragmental view showing a means for connecting a strap to the handle of the paddle.

Referring now to the drawing for a better understanding of my invention, I show a paddle indicated generally at 1i) comprising a blade 11 and a handle 12. The blade 11 is divided transversely into an upper blade part 13 and a lower blade part 14. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 the lower blade part 14 is spaced from the upper blade part 13, and a resilient member or cushion 15 extends between the blade parts.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5 the resilient member 15 is formed integrally with parallel members 16 between which the upper blade part 13 is secured and other parallel members 17 between which the lower blade part 14 is secured. The upper and lower blade parts 13 and 14 are secured between the parallel members 16 and 17, respectively, by any of the several means well known in the art, such as by rivets 18.

3,153,797 Patented Oct. 27, 1964 ICC To provide additional strength to the parallel members 16 and 17, and to prevent them from pulling away from the rivets or other fasteners, I provide reinforcing members 19, made from sheet metal and imbedded in the material of which the members 16 and 17 are made.

A detachable strap 21 may be provided at the upper end of the handle portion of a small paddle, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, to facilitate the use of only one arm in manipulating the paddle. As shown in FIG. 6, snap fasteners 22 or the like may be used to secure the straps to the handle.

With the foregoing description in mind, the use of my improved paddle will be easily understood. Using the small paddle illustrated the user puts his arm through the loop formed by the strap 21 and grasps the handle just above the upper blade portion. The loop provides support so that only one hand is used in manipulating the paddle. The user then paddles in the usual manner using a fore to aft stroke. Toward the aft end of the stroke the blade is feathered outwardly, that is to say, toward the aft end of the stroke the blade is turned approximately outwardly, either clockwise or counterclockwise. This is done by simply turning the Wrist of the hand holding the paddle. During the stroke the resilient member 15 stores energy because when the blade member 14 encounters the resistance of the water and is pushed out of the plane of the handle member 11, as shown in FIG. 3, it is compressed on one side and stretched on the other. When the blade is feathered the energy stored in the resilient member returns the blade member 14 to the plane of the blade 13 and thereby imparts a lateral thrust to the boat to correct the direction of travel thereof.

For sculling, the handle may be supported on the boat transom and the blade oscillated back and forth to give forward motion. Paddles on the order of 6 feet are more suited for sculling than the shorter hand paddles.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have devised a new and practical improved boat paddle that simplifies the art of boat paddling by providing the lateral thrust necessary to keep a boat headed in a forward direction, requiring only that paddle be feathered outwardly at the end of each stroke. The ease of sculling a boat with my paddle is enhanced by its flexible blade which gives smooth, quiet action in propelling a boat in this manner. My improved paddle is easy and economical to manufacture and is durable and easy to learn to manipulate. In actual practice I have found that using my paddle enables a paddler to easily paddle a boat along a straight course. By proper manipulation a boat being paddled may be turned toward that same side, kept straight, or turned to the olf side.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modiiications without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. In a boat paddle,

(a) a blade divided transversely into an upper blade part and a lower blade part spaced from the upper part,

(b) said upper blade part carrying an elongated handle,

(c) a cushion of rubber-like material interposed between said upper and lower blade parts and of a size to be compressed on one side and stretched on the other side when said lower blade part moves out of the plane of said upper blade part thereby to store energy,

(d) layers of rubber-like material formed integrally with said cushion and disposed alongside adjacent portions of the sides of said upper and lower blade parts, and

(e) means to connect said layers to the upper and lower blade parts whereby energy is transmitted to and from the cushion upon movement of the lower blade part out of the plane of the upper blade part.

2. A boat paddle as defined in claim 1 in which reinforcing members are imbedded in the rubber-like layers. 3. A boat paddle as dened in claim 1 in which a loop of exible material is secured to the upper end of said handle portion, which loop is of a size to engage about the forearm of a person grasping the handle.

4. For use in flexibly connecting the upper and lower parts of a two-part boat paddle blade, a connector member comprising (a) a double channel shaped integrally formed rubber member having a common base and opposed extending leg portions,

(b) said leg portions being spaced from each other snugly to receive the adjacent ends of said upper and lower blade parts,

(c) Vsaid common base portion containing a volume of rubber sucient to allow resilient pivotal movement between said upper and lower blade parts, and

(d) means to secure said leg portions lto said upper and lower blade parts.

5. A connector member as dened in claim 4 in which the double channel shaped rubber member is reinforced by a pair of correspondingly shaped separately formed sheet metal members the flanges of which are secured to the legs of the rubber member and the bases of which are secured to opposite sides of the common base of said rubber member.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,712,655 Fibiger May 14, 1929 1,772,915 Rosenberg Aug. 12, 1930 1,883,203 Whitenhouse Oct. 18, 1932 2,079,460 MartyVV May 4, 1937 2,188,343 Flournoy Jan. 30, 1940 2,365,415 Kruse Dec. 19, 1944 2,530,754 Bienert Nov. 21, 1950 3,025,538 Noland Mar. 20, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 163,908 Austria Sept. 10, 1949 

4. FOR USE IN FLEXIBLY CONNECTING THE UPPER AND LOWER PARTS OF A TWO-PART BOAT PADDLE BLADE, A CONNECTOR MEMBER COMPRISING (A) A DOUBLE CHANNEL SHAPED INTEGRALLY FORMED RUBBER MEMBER HAVING A COMMON BASE AND OPPOSED EXTENDING LEG PORTIONS, (B) SAID LEG PORTIONS BEING SPACED FROM EACH OTHER SNUGLY TO RECEIVE THE ADJACENT ENDS OF SAID UPPER AND LOWER BLADE PARTS, (C) SAID COMMON BASE PORTION CONTAINING A VOLUME OF RUBBER SUFFICIENT TO ALLOW RESILIENT PIVOTAL MOVEMENT BETWEEN SAID UPPER AND LOWER BLADE PARTS, AND 